Pubdate: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 Source: Standard, The (St. Catharines, CN ON) Copyright: 2002, The Standard Contact: http://www.canada.com/stcatharines/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/676 DECRIMINALIZATION IDEA HAS LITTLE HOPE OF SUCCESS It Looks As If We're Facing Another Boondoggle, Thanks To The Federal Justice Ministry. First we had the national gun registration policy that will leave law-abiding gun owners with criminal records for not registering their weapons. Now we have Justice Minister Martin Cauchon saying last week the government will be able to move quickly to bring a bill to decriminalize marijuana for personal use, perhaps by next year. So, people who were once in legal possession of guns will be penalized, and people who broke the law by using a banned substance will be exonerated. What gives? Is the justice minister serious? St. Catharines MP Walt Lastewka thinks he is. But we don't think so. Some cynics suggest Cauchon is using the notion of decriminalizing the possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana in order to divert public attention from the $1-billion gun-registry disaster. They predict the government will float the idea, discuss it and maybe even spend millions more to study marijuana use, and then in the end drop the proposal. That's possible, given Prime Minister Jean Chretien's non-committal comments that such a decision would be made "one day." But in our view, such an ill-considered idea as decriminalization has little chance of seeing the light of day. There is much opposition from police chiefs and concerned citizens across the country. Even so, their voices are not going to be the ones that matter. The deciding vote will come not from Canadian politicians, but from the Americans. That's because decriminalization won't result in more people growing their own pot; most will still buy it from dealers working with criminal gangs. And those gangs make the vast majority of their profit from smuggling marijuana to the U.S. The only reason they do it from Canada is that our penalties are far less stringent than in America if they are caught. So if U.S. politicians think decriminalization in Canada is going to increase in any way the amount of marijuana crossing over the U.S. border from cities like Vancouver, Windsor and Niagara Falls, they'll make good on their threats to shut down the border. They'll do that because the war against drugs is taken much more seriously in the U.S. Many American inner cities are wracked with drug and crime problems, and fighting against importation of marijuana will be a popular stand for politicians to take. Given America's post-9/11 feeling since that they are besieged and that Canada is the source of terrorist infiltrators and smugglers of illegal aliens and drugs, there'll be little protest in the U.S. if they clamp down on people and goods entering their country. When that happens, business in this country will quickly put pressure on the Liberals to ditch the idea and make amends with the U.S. We notice that Paul Martin is staying quiet on the matter. It would be easy for him to say some months from now as prime minister that he never agreed to any such notion. So could Chretien, for that matter. That's how the game is played. But our politicians are playing with fire in this case. America is deadly serious about its drug war, and Canadians shouldn't kid themselves about how far the U.S will take it. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom